Life-saving training for volunteer

Vital training for a volunteer lifeboat crew member based in Flamborough has been funded by a charity dedicated to improving safety at sea.

Andy Lyne travelled to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution’s college in Poole, Dorset to complete the Lloyd’s Register Foundation (LRF) trainee crew course.

The training involves learning how to abandon ship with a four metre jump into water, team survival swimming and coping on a life raft in simulated darkness.

Andy said: “The Lifeboat College is a brilliant facility and the training we receive there makes sure we can carry out the job of saving lives at sea as safely and effectively as possible. RNLI training is second to none and spending a week at the college means we can practice essential things like the capsize drill in a safe, controlled environment.

“It was also good to meet crew members from stations.”

An RNLI spokesperson said: “The support given by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation is hugely important to the RNLI. We are extremely grateful that it has chosen to fund sea survival.

“This training is central to allowing the RNLI and its volunteers to stay safe while on rescue missions. It equips volunteers with essential sea survival skills; providing them with the courage, poise and self-confidence to save lives even in the most perilous seas.”

The LRF is an independent charity which funds work to enhance the safety of life and property at sea, on land and in the air.